Tableau Acquires Natural Language Query Technology

Tableau plans to integrate ClearGraph’s technology into its own products, making it easier for more people to interact with their data by using natural language to ask questions and search for insights.

ClearGraph allows users to analyze data using natural language, and offers a consumer-like experience to users by connecting disparate data sources and making them accessible and intelligible through simple conversational style search.

The natural language query technology stores semantic data in knowledge graphs that can expand and learn over time. Accessing and analyzing data using ClearGraph requires no technical training, as the system can infer users’ intent through natural language.

ClearGraph was founded in 2014 by Andrew Vigneault and Ryan Atallah. The team recruited Stanford PhD graduate Alex Djalali, who specializes in computational linguistics, to develop the product along with several other engineers. ClearGraph is used by dozens of customers, including large enterprises. As part of the acquisition, employees will join Tableau in its Palo Alto office. The team will be focused on integrating ClearGraph’s underlying technology into Tableau products.